Friday, August 26, 2011

I've started to write this blog about 10 times now, but continually back out. I'm not entirely for sure why. Maybe I'm not enjoying the beats its taking, or it feels pretentious or something. Well, today...I'm writing it.

I keep reading "30 is the new 25" or "40 is the new 30" Thank Christ, because I'm taking my sweet ass time in age.

I've taken a while longer to grow up than most people I know. When I say "grow up", I'm not talking mature. I've felt since a young age that I was fairly mature. I mean, I still make dick and fart jokes. But taking care of business...that sort of thing. The growing up I'm talking about is more along the lines of getting married, having kids, buying a house. But do those things even really constitute being a grown up? I see television shows where people are getting married, and having kids while in High School. They seem to be about as mature as middle school child.

And its not like I'm against marriage or having kids...or buying a house even. I'm getting married in October. Its just that...I didn't see the point of rushing in, like 99% of my fellow graduating class did. I feel like I've been able to experience so much more, that if I had gotten married, or saddled with children at an early age. Would have I been able to go to Mardi Gras for the first time? What about bar hopping in downtown Nashville? Going out of town on a whim? Meeting people that I consider life long friends?

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with getting married, or having children right out of High School. A lot of people seem to be perfectly happy in those decisions. But I also see quite a few folks who are miserable, or have since divorced.

All this makes me believe, that despite what my mother has told me, that maybe...just maybe...I was on the right track. She used to tell me "if you are single now, then all your friends (from HS) who are getting married and having kids will be more free when its time to retire to do fun things while, you'll be behind them."
Which made no sense. Why would I want to wait to retirement to enjoy my youth?

Does getting married make me feel like I won't be able to still do all the awesome things I did when I was single? Absolutely not. I'll have someone to do those things with. I'm absolutely happy that I waited to become a grown up.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Why this song? Well, this is from the first rock and roll album I ever bought, the "Who Made Who" album, which doubled as a soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive.
I was raised on Country, a little southern rock, and easy listening. I made friends with a kid who listened to Ozzy, Metallica, AC/DC and others. I spent the night at his house, and listened to Hard Rock/Metal all night. I changed right there. The next day, I got my mom to take me to the mall, and I bought "Who Made Who" on cassette. There was no significance behind why I chose this album. I loved the way AC/DC sounded, and this one was on sale, I want to say like five dollars.
I never looked back.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Every Tuesday, I'm going to start posting a video of a song, and discuss what that track means to me. Not necessarily what the song means, but what it makes me feel, and what memories it may bring back. Today's inaugural post is Pearl Jam covering Mother Love Bone's Crown of Thorns.

This song gets me two fold. 1. Its being played by my favorite band. 2. I've loved this song every since I first heard it back in 91-92, just pulls me right back to playing it on repeat over and over again. Its one of those, that no matter how many times I hear it, I'm constantly surprised at how good it is. .
It was on the Singles soundtrack, where I first heard it. I knew who Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hendrix & a few others were, but there was this one song called Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns by Mother Love Bone, that I fell in love with. Then, come to find out a couple of members of Pearl Jam had come from MLB, well that was just icing on the cake.
That was a great period for me, as I was figuring out who I was, and who I wanted to be. That movie, its soundtrack, the music of the period...I guess it opened up a whole new world to me, that was outside of the small Alabama community that I was growing up in. I guess you can say that about any area that provides a great deal of good musicians, like New York or L.A. But my attention was laser focused on Seattle and what was coming out of that city. I wanted to live there. I mean, really live there. I wanted to live in the same apartment complex, go to the same coffee shops. There's an alternate universe where at the age of 18, I packed my car, drove out there, and probably never came back.
Hope you enjoy it. If not, well then I'm sad for you.